


Sanders Sides Appearance Survey

by centreoftheselights



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Appearance Headcanons, Disability, Fandom Commentary, Fandom Statistics, Fandom Survey, Fandom studies, Fanon, Hair colour, Meta Essay, Nonfiction, Physical Appearance, Race, Research, Style of Dress, Tumblr Survey, Weight, eye colour, height, mental health
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:00:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 3,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21733381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/centreoftheselights/pseuds/centreoftheselights
Summary: In early December 2019, I posted a survey about the appearance headcanons people had for the Sanders Sides characters. These are the responses I received.
Comments: 62
Kudos: 228





	1. Overview

On 4th December 2019, I posted a short survey on Tumblr entitled "[What do the Sanders Sides characters look like to you?](https://potestessemagishomosexualitatis.tumblr.com/post/189473993780/what-do-the-sanders-sides-characters-look-like-to)" Between then and the survey's close on December 9th, it received a total of 1077 responses. The survey focussed on how the Sides characters appear when written in human AUs, plus a few questions about disability and mental illness headcanons.

There were a total of 73 main questions on the survey, not counting assorted textbox questions which were added to allow write-in answers: 12 major questions which were repeated for all six characters - Logan, Patton, Roman, Virgil, Deceit and Remus - and a final question about the representation of Deceit's scales. Although all questions were optional, the average response rate for the main questions was around 95%. Response rate only varied slightly by character, with Remus having the lowest response rate (94.4%) and Virgil the highest (95.6%).

The most commonly chosen options across the survey (excluding the "None of the Above" options which appeared on some of the later questions) were as follows:

  1. Anxious Virgil - 1024 responses
  2. Freckles Patton - 985 responses
  3. Muscular Roman - 897 responses
  4. Straight hair Logan - 847 responses
  5. Short hair Logan - 833 responses
  6. Chubby Patton - 800 responses
  7. Skinny Virgil - 795 responses
  8. Wavy hair Roman - 771 responses
  9. Curly hair Patton - 759 responses
  10. Fashionable Roman - 731 responses
  11. Straight hair Virgil - 708 responses
  12. Pastel/Cute Patton - 704 responses
  13. Average build Deceit - 682 responses
  14. White Patton - 678 responses
  15. White Virgil - 662 responses
  16. Purple hair Virgil - 649 responses
  17. Vitiligo Deceit - 649 responses
  18. Depressed Virgil - 628 responses
  19. Latino Roman - 626 responses
  20. ADHD Roman - 601 responses



**Important Note** : This survey was completed entirely out of curiosity and personal interest. If any of these results posts interest or inspire you, you are welcome to build on them in your own works, fictional or non-fictional, provided that you give credit where appropriate.


	2. Height and Build

**Height**

The first question on the survey was "How tall do you most frequently picture the following characters?" with the answer options being:

  * Very short
  * Short
  * Shorter than average
  * Average height
  * Taller than average
  * Tall
  * Very tall



The results from this question are displayed on the chart below:

[Transcription: results for each character given in the answer order above.

Logan: 11/32/44/174/327/354/126. Patton: 54/237/425/250/59/29/10. Roman: 19/44/84/271/393/216/39. Virgil: 68/152/191/217/156/160/122. Deceit: 190/190/170/185/138/129/57. Remus: 27/41/94/290/313/193/101.]

Assuming that the average height is around 5'9.5 (based on the average for adult American men) and there is a difference of 2.5 inches between each option listed, the options translate to a range of heights between 5'2 and 6'5. Using this conversion, the average height headcanon for each character, from tallest to shortest, is:

  1. Logan: 6'0.5 (Standard Deviation 3.1 inches)
  2. Remus: 5'11.3 (S.D. 3.4 inches)
  3. Roman: 5'11.2 (S.D. 3.0 inches)
  4. Virgil: 5'9.8 (S.D. 4.4 inches)
  5. Deceit: 5'8.2 (S.D. 4.6 inches)
  6. Patton: 5'7.4 (S.D. 2.8 inches)



** Build **

The second question on the survey was "What build do you most frequently picture the following characters with?" with the answer options being:

  * Average build
  * Skinny build
  * Muscular build
  * Chubby build



The results from this question are displayed on the chart below:

[Transcription: results for each character given in the answer order above.

Logan: 480/461/97/33. Patton: 204/36/29/800. Roman: 125/26/897/22. Virgil: 170/795/72/33. Deceit: 682/253/86/42. Remus: 307/232/464/59.]

Assuming that "Average" is the mid-point between "Skinny," "Chubby" and "Muscular," these results can also be plotted on the triangular graph shown below.

Transcription:

  * Logan: 24% muscular, 18% chubby, 58% skinny.
  * Patton: 9% muscular, 81% chubby, 10% skinny.
  * Roman: 88% muscular, 6% chubby, 6% skinny.
  * Virgil: 12% muscular, 8% chubby, 80% skinny.
  * Deceit: 29% muscular, 25% chubby, 45% skinny.
  * Remus: 53% muscular, 15% chubby, 31% skinny.




	3. Race

The third question on the survey was "What race do you most frequently picture the following characters as?" with the answer options being:

  * White
  * Black
  * Latino
  * East Asian
  * South or SE Asian
  * Native American
  * Pacific Islander
  * Middle Eastern
  * Other - Please Specify



The results from the "If you answered "Other" to any of the characters in the last question, please specify." write-in question have been gone through manually. In cases where the write-in answer mentions one or more of the categories given in the main question (e.g. stating "either X or Y" or "a combination of X and Y"), an additional point has been added to all relevant categories. Points are only assigned to the "Other" category if the write-in answer includes at least one racial category that was not asked about in the main question. This will be the case for all questions on the survey which include an "Other" category.

The results from this question are displayed on the chart below:

[Transcription: results for each character given in the answer order above.

Logan: 608/97/25/118/59/26/16/42/11. Patton: 688/80/51/22/17/32/58/38/19. Roman: 284/20/628/9/5/17/20/16/10. Virgil: 672/38/36/98/54/43/22/18/19. Deceit: 527/137/62/65/41/51/30/52/26. Remus: 387/16/514/8/11/16/16/16/10.]

Overall, Roman was the character most likely to be headcanoned as non-white, followed by Remus, Deceit, Logan, Virgil, and Patton in that order.

The most common write-in answer was "mixed race," which was given multiple times for every character, although most commonly for Deceit at 12 answers. Other frequent answers included mentioning a specific nationality and picturing Deceit with vitiligo. Other racial groups mentioned in the answers included Jewish, Inuit, Australian Aboriginal, Maori, and Romani; amongst these groups, Virgil was the character most likely to be headcanoned.

Combining answers from all of the characters together, the most common racial headcanons are shown on the chart below:

Transcription:

  * White - 52.8%
  * Black - 6.5%
  * Latino - 21.9%
  * East Asian - 5.3%
  * South or SE Asian - 3.1%
  * Native American - 3.1%
  * Pacific Islander - 2.7%
  * Middle Eastern - 3.0%
  * Other - 1.6%



Normalising by the overall number of answers for each race, it is possible to work out the "most characteristic" racial headcanon for each character:

  * Logan - East Asian (2.2 times more likely than average to be headcanoned as such)
  * Patton - Pacific Islander (2.1 times more likely)
  * Roman - Latino (2.9 times more likely)
  * Virgil - East Asian (1.8 times more likely)
  * Deceit - Black (2.1 times more likely)
  * Remus - Latino (2.3 times more likely)




	4. Hair

**Hair Colour**

The fourth question on the survey was "What hair colour do you most frequently picture the following characters with?" with the answer options being:

  * Blond
  * Ginger
  * Light Brown
  * Dark Brown
  * Black
  * Side's Logo Colour
  * Other (Please Specify)



The results from this question are displayed on the chart below:

[Transcription: results for each character given in the answer order above.

Logan: 12/9/72/451/485/50/10. Patton: 288/167/494/51/24/47/17. Roman: 47/184/332/355/20/137/15. Virgil: 7/2/22/125/256/691/27. Deceit: 187/36/238/340/200/70/25. Remus: 14/48/224/516/118/137/61.]

Common write-in results included: "strawberry blond" (for Patton) and "auburn" (particularly for Roman) which were both categorised as "ginger" in the results above; hair with multiple colours simultaneously (e.g. dyed tips or streaks) including 28 write-ins for Remus's canonical hairstyle with the white streak; white, silver or gray hair, primarily headcanoned for Remus; and a number of non-natural dyed colours (particularly for Patton, Deceit and Remus). Some of the specific additional colours mentioned included pink, green, rainbow, and Thomas's canonical purple.

**Hair Texture**

The fifth question on the survey was "What hair texture do you most frequently picture the following characters with?" with the answer options being:

  * Straight
  * Wavy
  * Curly
  * Afro-Textured



The results from this question are displayed on the chart below:

[Transcription: results for each character given in the answer order above.

Logan: 847/129/43/44. Patton: 62/205/759/32. Roman: 110/771/171/6. Virgil: 708/258/80/12. Deceit: 470/345/189/47. Remus: 162/514/353/23.]

**Hair Length**

The sixth question on the survey was "What hair length do you most frequently picture the following characters with?" with the answer options being:

  * Bald
  * Very short/Shaven
  * Short
  * Mid-length
  * Long (above shoulder)
  * Shoulder length or longer



The results from this question are displayed on the chart below:

[Transcription: results for each character given in the answer order above.

Logan: 1/92/833/99/16/13. Patton: 1/18/458/483/76/13. Roman: 1/30/491/364/126/38. Virgil: 1/48/426/401/141/30. Deceit: 2/76/577/249/80/61. Remus: 5/33/432/354/139/77.]

Using an approximate conversion ([source](https://www.menshairblog.com/hair-length-shaved-short-medium-long-categories/)) of "Bald" = 0 inches, "Very short/Shaven" = 0.1 inches, "Short" = 1 inch, "Mid-length" = 4 inches, "Long (above shoulder)" = 8 inches, "Shoulder length or longer" = 16 inches, the average length of each character's hair, from shortest to longest, is as follows:

  * Logan - 1.5 inches
  * Patton - 3.1 inches
  * Deceit - 3.1 inches
  * Roman - 3.4 inches
  * Virgil - 3.5 inches
  * Remus - 4.0 inches




	5. Eyes

The seventh question on the survey was "What eye colour do you most frequently picture the following characters with?" with the answer options being:

  * Blue
  * Grey
  * Green
  * Hazel
  * Brown
  * Black
  * Side's Logo Colour
  * Other (Please Specify)



The results from this question are displayed on the chart below:

[Transcription: results for each character given in the answer order: Blue/Grey/Green/Hazel/Brown/Black/Side's Logo Colour/Heterochromia/Other.

Logan: 347/205/38/39/183/60/197/1/1. Patton: 411/40/89/179/132/7/207/1/3. Roman: 30/6/240/258/347/14/174/0/5. Virgil: 29/163/155/71/260/110/356/99/7. Deceit: 28/67/165/191/287/53/413/202/7. Remus: 10/53/372/125/230/62/193/3/19.]

This question had 269 write-in answers, the most of any question on the survey. So many write-in answers mentioned heterochromia (two different eye colours) that it has been included in the graph as its own separate category, in addition to contributing to the values for any specific colours mentioned. Heterochromia was most commonly headcanoned for Deceit and Virgil. When the colours were named, Deceit was most commonly headcanoned with Brown/Yellow heterochromia, followed by Brown/Green, Green/Yellow and Blue/Brown; in total, 19 different colour combinations were given for Deceit. Virgil was most commonly headcanoned with Purple/Green heterochromia, followed by Brown/Green; in total, 14 different colour combinations were suggested for Virgil.

Non-heterochromia write-in answers included red eyes (particularly for Remus), gold or amber coloured eyes (especially for Roman), and other colours such as pink, white, orange, silver and rainbow.


	6. Style of Dress & Facial Markings

**Style of Dress**

The eighth question on the survey was "What style of dress do you most frequently picture the following characters with?" with the answer options being:

  * Canon Outfit
  * Officewear
  * Fashionable
  * Hipster
  * Pastel/Cute
  * Neon
  * Punk
  * Grunge
  * Emo/Goth
  * Other (Please Specify)



The results from this question are displayed on the chart below:

[Transcription: results for each character given in the answer order above.

Logan: 507/398/28/57/5/0/47/8/0/12. Patton: 274/2/14/26/711/10/6/3/2/19. Roman: 172/1/736/83/13/7/8/9/1/26. Virgil: 312/2/7/16/8/1/91/106/526/3. Deceit: 242/74/207/129/6/11/226/100/48/19. Remus: 237/0/48/55/0/131/216/292/22/58.]

This question had a wide variety of write-in answers. There were 39 answers describing Remus as having bad, clashing, random or no fashion sense, 6 describing his look as revealing or suggestive, and 4 headcanoning him as a nudist. Among the other sides, the most common write-in answer was "casual" style, which was mentioned for every side at least once but most commonly for Patton; "cosy" was another popular Patton answer. 14 answers described Roman as a jock and/or wearing a letterman jacket, and 6 described Deceit wearing a suit. Other styles of dress mentioned included Hippie, Steampunk, Androgynous, Historical, Futuristic, Bedazzled, Scene and "Extra".

**Facial Markings**

The ninth question on the survey was "Do you typically picture the characters with any of the following facial markings?" with the answer options being:

  * Freckles
  * Mole(s)/Beauty Mark(s)
  * Facial Hair
  * Acne
  * Birthmarks
  * Vitiligo
  * Visible Scar(s)
  * Glass Eye(s)
  * Other
  * None Of These



This question, and all subsequent multi-character questions on this survey, allowed the respondent to select multiple options from the list. The answer "None Of These" was only counted as valid if no other options were selected for that character.

The results from this question are displayed on the chart below:

[Transcription: results for each character given in the answer order above.

Logan: 191/129/44/44/105/9/52/154/6/403. Patton: 985/67/17/69/99/18/27/130/3/31. Roman: 278/432/52/40/119/6/164/7/3/220. Virgil: 316/66/12/226/126/27/266/9/18/260. Deceit: 141/59/18/18/256/650/441/111/15/60. Remus: 168/196/562/100/117/10/328/16/3/130.]

There were relatively few write-in answers for this question, but some common answers mentioned Deceit having heterochromia and Virgil's dark undereye circles. Other write-in answers included tattoos, make-up, piercings, dimples and wrinkles.


	7. Accessibility Devices & Disability

**Accessibility Devices  
**

The tenth question on the survey was "Do you typically picture the characters with any of the following accessibility devices?" with the answer options being:

  * Prosthetic Limb(s)
  * Wheelchair
  * Walking Stick/Cane
  * Service Animal
  * Hearing Aids
  * Other (Please Specify)
  * None Of These



The results from this question are displayed on the chart below:

[Transcription: results for each character given in the answer order above.

Logan: Logan: 81/25/36/37/126/9/667. Patton: 23/39/25/157/87/7/637. Roman: 49/14/17/30/33/6/785. Virgil: 22/14/20/311/96/7/545. Deceit: 57/15/152/54/63/2/640. Remus: 62/9/30/30/33/3/764.]

The most common write-in answer for this question was describing Logan and Patton's glasses as accessibility devices. Other devices mentioned included stim toys, noise cancelling headphones, inhalers, crutches, and a mobility scooter.

**Disability  
**

The eleventh question on the survey was "Do you typically imagine the characters with any of the following disabilities?" with the answer options being:

  * Blindness
  * Deafness or Hearing Loss
  * Muteness
  * Learning Disability
  * Epilepsy
  * Invisible Illness
  * Paraplegia
  * Missing Limb(s)
  * Other (Please Specify)
  * None Of These



(N.B. The split between this question and the following question about mental health was somewhat arbitrary, based primarily on the limit of how many options could be displayed in each survey question.)

The results from this question are displayed on the chart below:

[Transcription: results for each character given in the answer order above.

Logan: 52/106/56/132/25/101/4/58/5/536. Patton: 38/84/28/199/20/97/6/14/2/526. Roman: 3/35/12/230/16/77/6/36/1/554. Virgil: 27/77/306/77/58/186/7/14/3/406. Deceit: 139/69/64/47/25/106/7/44/12/523. Remus: 11/40/10/239/38/68/4/44/2/550.]

Notable write-in answers include: "selective mutism," particularly for Virgil (listed under "Muteness" above); "blind in one eye" for Deceit (listed under "Blindness"); and "dyslexia" for a wide range of characters (listed under "Learning Disability"). There was a wide variety of other write-in answers, which included chronic pain, colourblindness, speech impediment, Tourette's, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, microphthalmia, Raynaud's Disease, eczema, memory loss, and Parkinson's. A small number of answers were discounted as they fell under the purview of the following question on mental illnesses.

It is worth noting that both the questions discussed in this chapter had significantly more non-answers than the rest of the survey. The response rates for questions 10 and 11 were 86% and 85% respectively, while the average across the other 11 questions was 97%.


	8. Mental Health

**Mental Health  
**

The twelfth question on the survey was "Do you typically imagine the characters with any of the following mental illnesses & neurodivergences?" with the answer options being:

  * Autism
  * ADHD
  * Depression
  * Anxiety
  * PTSD
  * OCD
  * Eating Disorder
  * Personality Disorder
  * Other (Please Specify)
  * None Of These



The results from this question are displayed on the chart below:

[Transcription: results for each character given in the answer order above.

Logan: Logan: Logan: 486/162/147/95/60/428/61/33/9/161. Patton: 129/431/452/87/46/25/100/36/3/157. Roman: 71/601/209/145/92/56/221/43/4/143. Virgil: 90/114/628/1024/275/52/178/31/9/12. Deceit: 82/72/201/102/237/140/67/184/25/267. Remus: 134/533/106/59/159/65/84/265/15/184.]

Unsurprisingly, two of the most popular write-in answers were compulsive lying for Deceit and intrusive thoughts for Remus. Some people used the write-in answers to specify Borderline or Narcissistic Personality Disorders, or bi-polar depression or Seasonal Affective Disorder (another kind of depression). A wide range of other mental illnesses and neurodivergences were suggested, including self-harm, Sensory Processing Disorder, anger issues, schizophrenia, paranoia, dissociation, mania, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, psychosis, alexithymia, codependency, synesthesia, abandonment issues, psychopathy and Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. A small number of answers also mentioned issues which were covered by the prior question on disabilities, such as dyslexia, Tourette's and selective mutism.

**A Brief Note**

While I have generally tried to avoid any kind of moral judgement in the analysis of this survey, I am mildly concerned to see that personality disorders (some of the most severely stigmatised mental health issues) are vastly more common to be headcanoned among the "dark sides" than the protagonists. As is always the case, please embrace a diversity of representation and be aware that portraying only villain characters with any given stigmatised trait may have unintended harmful implications, even if your intentions are good.


	9. Deceit's Scales

**Deceit's Scales**

The thirteenth and final question on the survey was "If you include Deceit as a character, how do you most frequently imagine his scales being represented?" with the answer options being:

  * Birthmark
  * Scar
  * Vitiligo
  * Make-up/Facepaint
  * Tattoo
  * No Markings/Not Represented
  * Other (Please Specify)



This was the only question that did not allow answer options for multiple characters, since it applied to Deceit only. Only one answer could be given per respondent.

The results from this question are displayed on the chart below:

[Transcription: results shown as a pie chart. Birthmark - 14.6%. Scar - 25.1%. Vitiligo - 47.8%. Make-up/Facepaint - 3.0%. Tattoo - 4.2%. No Markings/Not Represented - 2.1%. Actual Scales - 2.1%. Other - 1.1%.]

The most common write-in answer was that Deceit was headcanoned with actual snake scales, even in human AUs; this was so common that it was given its own space on the graph above. Other common write-ins included specifying a port wine birthmark or that the scar was a burn; these each accounted for 0.5% of the total answers. Other write-ins included freckles, facial piercings, a glass or missing eye, and skin conditions such as psoriasis or ichthyosis vulgaris.


	10. Bonus: Most/Least Characteristic Traits

**Most/Least Characteristic Traits**

In response to this data, some people have expressed an interest in drawing or writing the most/least typical headcanon for the characters.

I calculated this by finding the median number of answers for each trait (e.g. the median number of "blue eyes" responses across the six characters) and using this to normalise all the data points. I then found the highest and lowest normalised data point for each character on questions 1-12. So given that the "most characteristic" answer for Logan's height is Tall, that means that of all the height answers for Logan, "Tall" was the answer where Logan's number of responses was the largest multiple of the median for that response.

The median was used instead of the mean because it allowed for a comparison to a more "typical" data point which was not skewed on questions where one character had a very popular headcanon for a particular trait that was not popularly answered for any other characters. "Other" options were excluded from the calculation as the nature of write-in answers means they cannot be directly compared between characters.

The Most Characteristic Traits are as follows:

_**Character**_ | **Logan** | **Patton** | **Roman** | **Virgil** | **Deceit** | **Remus**  
---|---|---|---|---|---|---  
_Height_ | Tall | Shorter than average | Taller than average | Very short | Very short | Taller than average  
_Build_ | Skinny | Chubby | Muscular | Skinny | Average | Muscular  
_Race_ | East Asian | Pacific Islander | Latino | East Asian | Black | Latino  
_Hair colour_ | Black | Blond | Ginger | Purple (Side's Logo Colour) | Blond | Dark Brown  
_Hair texture_ | Straight | Curly | Wavy | Straight | Afro-textured | Curly  
_Hair length_ | Very short/Shaven | Mid-length | Long (above shoulder) | Long (above shoulder) | Bald | Bald  
_Eye colour_ | Blue | Blue | Hazel | Grey | Yellow (Side's Logo Colour) | Green  
_Clothing_ | Officewear | Pastel/Cute | Fashionable | Emo/Goth | Officewear | Neon  
_Facial Markings  
_ | Glass Eye(s) | Freckles | Mole(s)/Beauty Mark(s) | Acne | Vitiligo | Facial Hair  
_Accessibility_ | Wheelchair | Service Animal | None of These | Service Animal | Walking Stick/Cane | Prosthetic Limb(s)  
_Disability_ | Blindness | Learning Disability | Learning Disability | Muteness | Blindness | Epilepsy  
_Mental Health_ | OCD | Depression | Eating Disorder | Anxiety | Personality Disorder | Personality Disorder  
  
The Least Characteristic Traits are as follows:

**_Character_** | **Logan** | **Patton** | **Roman** | **Virgil** | **Deceit** | **Remus**  
---|---|---|---|---|---|---  
_Height_ | Very short | Very tall | Short | Taller than average | Taller than average | Short  
_Build_ | Chubby | Skinny | Skinny | Average | Muscular | Skinny  
_Race_ | Latino | East Asian | South or SE Asian | Black | White | East Asian  
_Hair colour_ | Ginger | Dark Brown | Black | Ginger | Yellow (Side's Logo Colour) | Blond  
_Hair texture_ | Curly | Straight | Afro-textured | Afro-textured | Curly | Straight  
_Hair length_ | Long (above shoulder) | Shoulder length or longer | Very short/Shaven | Shoulder length or longer | Mid-length | Very short/Shaven  
_Eye colour_ | Green | Black | Grey | Hazel | Black | Blue  
_Clothing_ | Neon or Emo/Goth (equal value) | Grunge | Emo/Goth | Neon | Pastel/Cute | Pastel/Cute or Officewear (equal value)  
_Facial Markings  
_ | Visible Scar(s) | Visible Scar(s) | Glass Eye(s) | Glass Eye(s) | Acne | Glass Eye(s)  
_Accessibility_ | Service Animal | Prosthetic Limb(s) | Hearing Aids | Prosthetic Limb(s) | Hearing Aids | Hearing Aids  
_Disability_ | Paraplegia | Missing Limb(s) | Blindness | Missing Limb(s) | Learning Disability | Muteness  
_Mental Health_ | PTSD | PTSD | Autism | None of These | ADHD | Depression


End file.
